FREMONT — A 19-year-old Suisun City man was ordered Thursday to stand trial for his alleged involvement in an alcohol-related crash that killed one of his best friends more than 18 months ago.

After a 90-minute preliminary examination at the Fremont Hall of Justice, Judge Dan Grimmer ordered Darren James Walker to face trial for gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and being involved in a DUI crash that caused great bodily injury, charges that stem from a May 7, 2004, crash that killed 16-year-old Irvington High School student Cody Ledo.

Grimmer also ordered that Walker remain out of custody so long as he continues to stay in a sober-living home in San Jose, where he now lives. He will be rearraigned on the charges at the Hayward Hall of Justice later this month.

The judge’s decision came Thursday after three witnesses testified for the prosecution about the crash.

Derek Pope, an 18-year-old friend of both Walker and Ledo, testified that Walker picked him up from school that day and the two of them went back to his home, where they drank several bottles of beer.

After spending several hours at Pope’s house, they decided to go to a party at another friend’s home, where Pope continued to drink.

Walker eventually drove Ledo to Jack in the Box, even though Pope advised them both that he thought it wasn’t a good idea, according to testimony.

Several minutes later, Pope heard the crash on Chapel Way near Laurel Street in Irvington and rushed to the scene and found Ledo pinned between the passenger door of Walker’s pickup truck and a tree, he testified. Ledo was later taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Deputy District Attorney Greg Dolge’s second witness, motorist Dennis Morin, told the court that he saw Walker’s truck being driven recklessly on Irvington Boulevard, pass him on the wrong side of the road, and drive through a stop sign as it turned onto Chapel Way.

The prosecution’s final witness, Fremont police Officer Joseph Geibig, testified about what he saw at the crash scene and told the court that he was present at Washington Hospital when nurses drew Walker’s blood.

Tests later revealed that Walker, although under the state’s legal drinking age of 21, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24, three times the legal limit, court records show.

In closing arguments, Smith reasoned that Walker didn’t act with negligence when he decided to drive because he didn’t know what the consequences would be and he was pestered into giving Ledo a ride.

However, the judge agreed with Dolge’s rebuttal, which stated that Walker’s blood-alcohol content level was enough evidence.

Walker’s relatives and Ledo’s mother also attended the hearing Thursday, showing support for each other as they have since the day of the crash.

Together they’ve created a scholarship fund in Ledo’s name at Irvington High School.

Otto Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to North Korea. He had been medically evacuated and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center when he died at age 22.